Must See Video: Hogan At Augusta

There's no direct link, so just go to the Masters.com video page and look for the black and white video with Ben Hogan (you can also search videos by players, a new handy feature).

Many great things to look for in the video, including Ken Venturi's voiceover, Hogan's overall cooperative spirit and the clubhouse area pre-1950. 

But my favorite bit came at Amen Corner where the creeks are at their rustic zenith and we see remnants on 13 of MacKenzie's old "scab" bunkers.

"Payne used the bully pulpit of the chairman's press conference to lecture Tiger Woods about doing the right thing. It would be good for the club, and the game, if he would follow his own advice."

Alan Shipnuck says Augusta National's stance on Woman-American members has an impact on their ability to govern the game, noting they are essentially one of the governing bodies.

Years ago Hootie floated the idea of a throttled back "Masters ball," a way to rein in distance gains since the USGA and the R&A seem incapable of doing the job. Such an experiment could be unilaterally instituted by the Masters and have a massive impact on the sport as well as the multi-billion dollar equipment industry. Given the many ways Augusta National members are shaping golf, at the professional and grassroots level, shouldn't women have a voice, too? This can only happen if they are invited into the club.

The Pond Scrum is back and those subversives Elling and Huggan tackled the topic. Elling first:

Fact is, nobody knows what's happening at Augusta or who gets green-lighted for a green jacket. Last year, I saw former NFL receiver Lynn Swann in a green jacket. He'd recently joined the club.

Huggan: Just as it hangs over the Open Championship like a bad smell, the gender issue is one that will forever haunt the green jackets and the Masters until an emerald twinset is seen strolling the storied grounds. Indeed, just as it is by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club in my part of the world, golf is diminished by the blatant and unashamed misogyny of Augusta National. No rational argument can possibly support a state of affairs that automatically eliminates half the world's population because they don't have penises.

Masters Chairman Billy Payne speaks to the media at 9:30 11 a.m. ET. The over/under on the first gender/membership question is 2.5. Oh yes, there are half questions as much as there are half points in football.

DJ's Agent: "He rested it at Bay Hill, got back to working some last week, and tweaked it last week lifting a jet ski.”

Doug Ferguson tracks down Dustin Johnson's agent who was, indeed, on property but free of his phone. Though the WD was clearly planned and information should have been included when the WD was announced.

His agent, David Winkle at Hambric Sports Management, said Johnson first had back pain in January when he withdrew from the Humana Challenge, and played through minor pain the next six weeks.

“His back bothered him from time to time. He kind of played through the pain, but it was never crippling,” Winkle said in a voicemail. “He rested it at Bay Hill, got back to working some last week, and tweaked it last week lifting a jet ski.”

Westwood: "What gender issue? I'm a man."

Some fun exchanges between Lee Westwood and the press today in Augusta.

Q.  Did you see what Rory said about you and Chubby, that he was led down the wrong path?
LEE WESTWOOD:  I didn't see it.  What path was that?

And...

Q.  The gender issue thing has come up over here, again?
LEE WESTWOOD:  What gender issue?  I'm a man.  (Nodding, looking down).

Q.  Not you specifically.  Not hanging around the locker room.  Just wondering whether that gets much traction overseas and whether people abroad look at this as a uniquely peculiar American concern or if they understand what it's all about.
LEE WESTWOOD:  It's not something I think about.

Q.  Do you have an opinion?
LEE WESTWOOD:  Not really.

Q.  Not going to go there?
LEE WESTWOOD:  No.  (Laughter.)

Dog Eats Masters Tickets; Finds Them Disagreeable

Thanks to reader Tobin for catching an appearance on KJR 950's Mike In The Morning by Russ Berkman, who has tickets to Wednesday's Masters practice rounds. Or had tickets. The link to the interview is not up, so the outcome was not certain, but judging by what his hound did to his Masters tickets, someone slept outside last night.

Tobin reports that the Lords of Augusta reprinted the tickets for Berkman. Nice!

Course Changes Files, 8th and 16th Green Edition

David Westin reports on player comments after a few days around Augusta National, including noticeably lusher fairways similar to last year, and tweaks to the 8th and 16th greens that at the very least, might give the final par-3 more than one interesting hole location. Maybe.

On the 16th hole, Mickel­son said there is a bigger plateau on the top right side.

He said he believes the extension of the greens on Nos. 8 and 16 will make them play slightly easier.

“After looking at them, I think that some of the more challenging pin placements on those greens were softened a little bit and made to be not quite as difficult,” he said. “I’m not saying it’s good, bad, indifferent.”

For handicapping purposes the lusher fairways don't mean a reward for any particular player, but simply improve the chances of a better finish like last year. A few more balls may stay up on banks, a few less tight fairway lies might force a lay-up and in general, the extra turf should reward a little more risk-taking. Always a good thing here.

"Woods’s success has helped pushed the black caddie to the brink of extinction."

The New York Times features Karen Crouse's story about the demise of the black caddy on A1, accompanied by a fantastic shot of Ben Hogan following through as The King looks on with quite possibly the longest cigarette ever sold.

At the 76th Masters this week, there will be no club caddies required; only two black caddies started the season with regular jobs on the PGA Tour and one has since been fired. The great black caddies of the past, who carried the bags for Gene Sarazen and Jack Nicklaus and the game’s other greats, are dead or well into the back nine of their lives.

For a variety of reasons, no new generation has taken the bags from them. Caddying, once perceived as a menial job, has become a vocation for the college-educated and failed professionals who are lured by the astronomical purses driven by Woods’s immense popularity. In 1996, the year Woods turned pro, the PGA Tour purses averaged $1.47 million. This year, they average $6.20 million.

"Today's slower turf does have the effect of making the landing areas play 'wider.'"

Geoff Ogilvy's latest Golf World column features more great insights, including this about the fairway mowing at Augusta National and the impact on width and distance.

The fairways do look better without the stripe effect you see so often at other courses. No matter where you are at Augusta National, the grass is the same uniform shade of green.

Still, there's more to it than mere appearances. Mowing the grass like that makes the course play longer because the ball doesn't run as far as it might otherwise. When you look at footage from the Masters of maybe 20 years ago, you see balls bounding down fairways. The players got a lot of run out of their shots back then, far more than we do today. But that's not all bad. Today's slower turf does have the effect of making the landing areas play "wider."